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Khadarengal

Joined 18 January 2022

Dir (clan)

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The Dir (Somali: Dir) is the largest and most prominent Samaale clans in the Horn of Africa. They are also considered to be the oldest Somali stock to have inhabited the region. Its members inhabit Djibouti, Somaliland, Somalia, Ethiopia (Somali, Harar, Dire Dawa, Oromia and Afar regions), and northeastern Kenya (North Eastern Province).

Contents

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Origins

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According to many documented sources and historians, the patriarch Samaale was the son of Irir who in turn was the Son of Hiil. It is believed that the Somali genealogy from the line of Samaale dates back to their Cushitic ancestors 5000 YBP. The Dir clan and the Hawiye trace descent specifically from Irir the son of Samaale, unlike the Darood who ascribe their genealogy to Arabian Quraysh Banu Hashim origins through Aqiil the son of Abu Talib ibn Abd al-Muttalib, who was a cousin of the Prophet Muhammed.

History

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The history of Islam being practised by the Dir clan goes back 1400 years. In Zeila, a Dir city, a mosque called Masjid al-Qiblatayn is known as the site of where early companions of the Prophet established a mosque shortly after the first Migration to Abyssinia By the 7th century, a large-scale conversion to Islam was taking place in the Somali peninsula, first spread by the Dir clan family, to the rest of the nation.

The early Adal Kingdom (9th century to 13th century) was an exclusive Dir Kingdom with its capital being Zeila. In the 10th century, the Jarso clan a sub-division of Dir established the Dawaro Sultanate centred in Hararghe Highlands.

Dir is one of the oldest clans in the Horn of Africa. According to the Muslim chronicles, two of the oldest monarchies in the northern region, the Ifat and Adal sultanates, were led by Dir.

The Dir, along with the Akisho, Gurgura, Issa and Gadabuursi subclans of the Dir represent the most native and indigenous Somali clan tree in Harar.

The city Dire Dawa was originally called Dir Dhabe and used to be part of Adal Sultanate during the medieval times and was exclusively settled by Dir which is a major Somali tribe and after the weakening of Adal Sultanate, the Oromos took advantage and were able to penetrate through the city and settle into these areas and also assimilate some of the local Gurgura clan.

The Somali Dir clan used to be the predominant inhabitants of Hararghe Highlands in the medieval times until the weakening of Adal Sultanate the opportunist Oromos took advantage of the crippling state and decided to invade and occupy the Haraghe Highlands and assimilate the local native Somali population which were Jarso, Gurgura, Nole, Metta, Oborra and Bursuk who were all sub-clans of Dir a major Somali tribe tree and were later confederated into Oromo Ethnics, the Afran Qallo tribes .

The Dir were supporters of Imam Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi during his 16th century conquest of Abyssinia; especially the Gurgura, Issa, Bursuk and Gadabuursi. In his medieval Futuh Al-Habash documenting this campaign, the chronicler Shihāb al-Dīn indicates that thousands of Dir soldiers took part in Imam Ahmad's Adal Sultanate army.

The Dir clan also led a revolt against the Italians during the colonial period. This revolt was mainly led by the Biimaal section of the Dir. The Biimaal clan is widely known for leading a resistance against the colonials in southern Somalia.The Biimaal violently resisted the imposition of colonialism and fought against the Italian colonialists of Italian Somaliland in a twenty-year war known as the Biimaal revolt in which many of their warriors assassinated several Italian governors. This revolt can be compared to the war of the Mad Mullah in Somaliland. The Biimaal mainly lives in Somalia, the Somali region of Ethiopia, which their Gaadsen sub-clan mainly inhabits and in the NEP region of Kenya. The Biimaal are pastoralists. They were also successful merchants and traders in the 19th century. In the 19th century they have engaged in multiple wars with the Geledi clan, which they were victorious in.

Lineage

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I.M. Lewis and many sources maintain that the Dir, a Proto-Somali, together with the Hawiye trace ancestry through Irir son of Samaale. Dir is regarded as the father-in-law of Darod, the progenitor of the Darod clan Although some sources state it was the daughter of Hawiye who Darod married.

Dir clan lineages:

According to others, Dir had a fifth son, Qaldho Dir.

DNA analysis of Dir clan members inhabiting Djibouti found that all of the individuals belonged to the Y-DNA T1 paternal haplogroup.

Branches

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The main subclans of the Dir today are: 1. Mahe 2. Madaluug 3. Madoobe 4. Madahweyn

For the first time since several centuries the Dir clan which widely dispersed in the Horn of Africa has successfully convened a meeting with all the major Dir subclans in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Suldaan Dhawal, of the Habr 'Affan Gadabuursi was elected the head and representative of the Dir clan in the Horn of Africa.

Clan tree

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The following list is based on Nuova Antologia (1890), I.M. Lewis's book People of the Horn of Africa, and a paper published in March 2002 by Ambroso Guido: Clanship, Conflict and Refugees: An Introduction to Somalis in the Horn of Africa.

  • Samaale
    • Irir
      • Dir
      • Ali Gadabuursi
          • Gobe siciid
          • Jibraacin siciid
          • Samaroon Siciid
              • Yuusuf Samaroon [Habar Yuusuf ]
              • (Ciise Samaroon)
                • cisman ciise
                • Qeyr ciise
              • Siciid Samaroon
            • Habar Makador
              • Makahil
                • Makail Dera (Makayl-Dheere)
                • Bahabar Abdalo
                • Celi makaahiil
                • Ciye makaahiil
                • hassan makaahiil [Bahabar Xasan]
                • muuse makaahiil
                • jibriil muuse (( Afgaduud ))
                • Bah sanayo
                • jibril Yūnus
                • Adan Yūnus
                • Nur Yūnus (Reer Nuur)
                • Ali Yoonis
              • Mahad 'Asse
                • Reer maxamed
                • Bahabr Abokr
                • Bahabr Aden
                • Bahabr 'Eli
                • Abrayn
                • Bahabar muuse
            • Habar 'Affan
                • muusafiin
                • reer xaamud
                • faroole
                • xeebjire
                • cali ganuun
        • Madahwein
        • Mahe
          • Surre
          • Quranyow (Garre)
          • Biimaal
            • Gaadsen
            • Daadoow
            • Sa'ad
            • Da'ud
            • Suleiman (Saleiban)
            • Ismiin
          • Bajimal

Notable Dir figures

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Historical publications

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  • Bughyaat al-amaal fii taariikh as-Soomaal, published in Mogadishu, Shariif 'Aydaruus Shariif 'Ali
  • Political History of Lower Shabelle, Dr. Mohamed Abukar Mahad (Gaetano)
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